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Morning Coffee Debunks Jeffcoat Myths

Horns_bullet_mediumJim Jeffcoat makes some clarifications. Throughout the recruiting process, little information has come from the camp of defensive end Jackson Jeffcoat, as the family has preferred to stay quiet and explore the myriad options available for their son.

Jim Jeffcoat, however, did feel the need to clarify some rumors ($) floating around the interwebs. An anonymous source has spoken with several recruiting services, but Jeffcoat says that person does not have any inside information:

There is no source. I know he's not talking (his son Jackson). My wife and I aren't talking. We're just gathering all the information we can right now.

As for rumors that Jeffcoat will try to play basketball and football in college, the senior Jeffcoat has this to say:

We don't really talk about that. That will be his choice, his decision. If it fits his goals that he wants to accomplish, then it's something he'll look at doing.

The other prevalent rumor is that Jackson and his sister Jacqueline, a standout basketball, are a package deal and would like to attend the same college. The former Cowboy weighs in on that as well:

He and his sister are not a package deal. They're two separate individuals, great kids. If it ends up that they're at the same school, that would be great. But if not, so be it. They're their own people.

The Jeffcoats plan on taking numerous visits over the summer, including a trip to California to see USC, Stanford, and Cal, and a trip east to see Georgia, Florida, and Rutgers. As has been expected for some time, Jeffcoat will take his time to properly vet his options and will not make a decision until late in the process.

Playing two sports in college is extremely difficult with the bowl season stretching nearly until conference play. There's no question that Jeffcoat realizes his future is playing football -- put the chance of him playing basketball in college at least than 10%.

As far as playing with his sister, from the comments of the father it seems that both realize they may have to take separate paths to realize their potential. Any concerns about needing to recruit Jacqueline to secure a commitment from Jackson are pure speculation and probably not worth the time spent typing it.

Star-divide

Horns_bullet_mediumTexas still sticks out for Reed. Despite writing off any chance of Trovon Reed ending up at Texas nearly a month ago, Reed told Scout's Baron Flennory that Texas is still a school that sticks out to him ($), naming the Longhorns when asked about the schools that he really likes.

Reed says that he was seriously considering Texas before the Longhorns received so many early commitments:

I was really feeling Texas but they got full so I had to open my eyes and look other places. They stopped recruiting me the same because I wasn't going to commit early. I wouldn't of minded competing for a spot. We are all freshman coming in and whoever was the best would of got the spot. You have to compete everywhere. But they got full. They're still high on my list, I just have to open my eyes and see what else is out there.

The comments from the Thibodaux raise some previously articulated concerns about the Longhorns virtually ending most of their recruiting by the time the calendar turns to March. By taking early commitments from players like John Harris and Ross Apo, the Longhorns reduce their ability to land better players like Reed and DeMarco Cobbs, who remains interested, but has heard little from Longhorn coaches recently. Should Texas wait on a guy like Reed and risk losing out on several other players? This is a tough question that Mack Brown will have to seriously weigh in the coming years.

Horns_bullet_mediumThis time, a productive move. There was some debate last week about whether John Harris' pending move from quarterback to receiver will help the future Longhorn. This week comes news that another future Longhorn will make a move ($), this time Bryant Jackson, who will get a chance to play during the spring at corner rather than safety, as the former position may be in his future.

Jackson has the size of a safety at nearly 6-4, he is still remarkably slightly and lanky, weighing only 175 pounds. Until that frame fills out with another 20-25 pounds, Jackson won't have the physicality to play safety, making cornerback his likely destination. Increasing hip fluidity is a goal, as Jackson knows that his ability to turn and run will ultimately influence where he ends up in college.

Horns_bullet_mediumHowell close to becoming eligible. Considering the massive amount of concern surrounding the defensive tackle position heading into the fall, true freshman Calvin Howell may be called upon to contribute. Standing in the way of that is his eligibility, a concern for some time, but Howell now says that he has the necessary score in his SAT and is close to getting an A in a class he needs to pass. Howell openly admits that he didn't work hard enough in school as a freshman and sophomore and is now paying the price by having to retake the class he needs to pass.

Horns_bullet_mediumCosby's name uncalled on Sunday, signs with Cincinnati. Though Brian Orakpo fell by the Redskins at pick no. 13, almost ten spots below the Cleveland pick that seemed a strong possibility up until Saturday, the biggest surprise of the weekend was that Quan Cobsy was not picked.

There wasn't a complete lack of interest in Cosby, however, as eight teams (Cincinnati, Detroit, Seattle, Houston, San Diego, Indianapolis, Minnesota and St. Louis) all called the sure-handed receiver immediately after completion of the draft. Cosby eventually chose the Bengals, where he will compete for a chance to play alongside a guy he was supposed to play with as a Longhorn -- running back Cedric Benson, also a member of the 2001 Longhorn recruiting class, of which Cosby was originally a part.

Size was certainly the most crucial factor in Cosby going undrafted, as he stands at less than 5-9. As with Roy Miller, size shouldn't mean everything for a player like Cosby, who has the ability to play larger than his height by elevating in traffic. A player who projects as a slot receiver in the NFL, where he can take advantage of his short stride to quickly change direction.

Scipio Tex doesn't see a problem with Cosby making the Bengals' roster, but a commenter notes that the Bengals already have a top three of Chad Johnson, Chris Henry, and Laveranues Coles, with fomer Packer Antonio Chatman, last year's second-round pick Jerome Simpson, this year's seventh-round pick Freddie Brown, and last year's seventh-round pick Mario Urrutia competing for openings at receiver.

Regardless of where he eventually ends up, I have little doubt that Cosby is an NFL player and will have a productive career.

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Comments

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interesting notes on the $ articles… i wish the jeffcoat camp would be a bit more verbal about who they have near the top of their list. and that’s too bad about reed, i certainly wish we’d take some extra time. but it’s not like we picked up slouches in his stead… we got some solid 4* players.

by Displaced Longhorn on Apr 27, 2009 8:13 PM CDT reply actions   0 recs

This is a pressure-filled process

and I think the recruits who are able to handle it the best are the ones who limit access from the services and are tight-lipped about the process. I think that’s what players like Seastrunk, in particular, have to do just to keep their lives sane. Darius White and Jake Matthews are operating from a similar playbook.

by GhostofBigRoy on Apr 27, 2009 10:09 PM CDT up reply actions   0 recs

better players

If Cobbs and Reed are indeed better than the other two and the Harris/Apo commitments scare them off then I say Mack made the right choice. Hopefully they won’t let competition keep them from coming to Austin.

by b&g80 on Apr 27, 2009 10:42 PM CDT reply actions   0 recs

I think it's more of a numbers issue than the players being scared off.

Cobbs is definitely still interested even at this point — the biggest problem for him has been finding a ride down to Austin.

by GhostofBigRoy on Apr 27, 2009 11:02 PM CDT up reply actions   0 recs

Thanks, Ghost

Wonder about this, though: "By taking early commitments from players like John Harris and Ross Apo, the Longhorns reduce their ability to land better players like Reed and DeMarco Cobbs . . . "

Are Reed and Cobbs BETTER? Eyeballing HS film and buying into the recruiting services’ rankings are all we have to go by; UT’s recruiting staff has a lot more knowledge. We also don’t know the degreee of interest the players have, how effectively they interviewed with Mack and others, and the academic situations.

by edsp on Apr 27, 2009 10:57 PM CDT reply actions   0 recs

It might be better to say more highly ranked.

I don’t know how much the coaching staff takes into account whether or not they can guarantee that a player will commit, making that player a known commodity, rather than waiting and not knowing where a guy will end up. Your point about the coaching staff having much more information available certainly rings true, though I think on raw athleticism, from what I do know, Reed and Cobbs appear to be better athletes than Harris and Apo.

by GhostofBigRoy on Apr 27, 2009 11:04 PM CDT up reply actions   0 recs

On the WRs

The pessimist (i.e., hornschamps) will point out that Bobby Kennedy was the mastermind behind signing the incredibl(y bad) trio of Montre Webber, Philip Payne, and Josh Marshall. The optimist would like to point out that recent history shows the Horns know what they’re doing, with an awesome class of Malcolm Williams, James Kirkendoll and Brandon Collins being followed by untapped potential in Dan Buckner and now converted DJ Grant. On Trovon Reed, isn’t the more apt comparison Chris Jones, who is supposedly the bees knees?

And quick question on Bryant Jackson. Doesn’t being 6’4" pretty much prevent you from playing CB in college at an effective level? Otherwise, why wouldn’t more tall guys do it?

by jc25 on Apr 28, 2009 9:28 AM CDT up reply actions   0 recs

Sean Smith made the transition fairly well at the same height

But he’s evidently a bit of a freak athlete. Mike Rumph was a good collegian too back at UM. His backpedal was fine for college, but toast at the pro level. Both of those guys can jam though, a 6-4 guy with so little weight would seem to need disproportionate quickness.

I know nothing about Bryant Jackson, just thought I’d toss in some comparatives.

proud to swim home

by learned hand on Apr 28, 2009 10:52 AM CDT up reply actions   0 recs

Pre-injury Sehorn was awesome, too, even in the NFL.

by burntorangehorn on Apr 28, 2009 11:10 AM CDT up reply actions   0 recs

Yeah, I really like Chris Jones

so I’m not overly concerned about the Longhorns basically recruiting themselves out of the Reed sweepstakes. As long as Darius White does eventually commit, I’m not sure that losing out on a chance at Cobbs is a huge deal either, though he does remind me of Michael Crabtree and that obviously makes me very intrigued about him.

I think a lot of guys don’t have the flexibility in their hips to play cornerback when they are that tall, which is a concern about Jackson and a lack would be the biggest reason for him to end up at safety, but I think a lot of kids when they get much over 6 feet end up at receiver and stay there.

by GhostofBigRoy on Apr 28, 2009 11:48 AM CDT up reply actions   0 recs

In the grand scheme of things

I don’t think he ends up at safety, but college he’ll be expected to have at least some cover skills so this move to CB should pay some dividends.

by Horncasting on Apr 28, 2009 2:14 PM CDT up reply actions   0 recs

Why wait for the marquee talent....

…..(Trovon Reed) when you can pluck the low-hanging fruit?

--- All roads to the Big-XII Championship lead through OU/RRS. It's not just another game! We're all about championships here. ---

by HornChamps on Apr 28, 2009 7:32 PM CDT up reply actions   0 recs

Nothing like bringing in a class full of late-take 3 stars!

When you expect half your class to come from OOS top 100 guys you can end up with the top recruiting class or you can end up with a class full of late 2 and 3 star guys because you didn’t get enough of the top guys and all the good players in-state you didn’t offer had long since moved on.

I’ll take Top 10 classes every year focused mostly on in-state guys over having a Top 10 class one year and then falling out of the Top 10 the next year because we struck out on our OOS targets and all the Texas good, but not ‘Rivals 100’ good, in-state guys weren’t willing to wait for us to give them a call at the last second.

by Rickyspub on Apr 29, 2009 8:33 AM CDT up reply actions   0 recs

We're not doing ......

…..any better at WR. In fact, we sat around and watched as just-up-the road ( Killeen ) 2-star* WR Juaquin Iglesias signed on with OU. How’d that work out for them? He hauled in 202 receptions for 2,861 yards. He was a 3rd-round pick.

--- All roads to the Big-XII Championship lead through OU/RRS. It's not just another game! We're all about championships here. ---

by HornChamps on May 2, 2009 12:02 PM CDT up reply actions   0 recs

This Whole Trovon Situation is Irritating

On the one hand, we have TR complaining because coaches aren’t kissing up nearly as much as they used to do. His line that he had to look at other schools because UT took so many early commitments is BS… He seems to be an extremely high rated, high caliber player; if he’s that good, then he shouldn’t care if we took 15 other WRs this year- he should be able to beat them out and make the team.

On the other side, I just wonder what the hell the coaches are doing right now, exactly… Watching old film? Golf? Drinking heavily? All of the above? Who Knows! It’s amazing to me that they will simply go silent on some of these recruits.

by Tackchevy on Apr 28, 2009 9:26 AM CDT reply actions   0 recs

I think Reed's comments suggest that he isn't afraid of competition, just committing...

I would be shocked if the coaches don’t give these players a timeline of sorts (In fact, I am sure they do, since haven’t we had some players drop us in the past because they felt the coaches were pushing them to hard for an early commit?). I would be shocked if Reed wasn’t told that we are taking 4 WR and that’s it. He should be able to read the writing on the wall and see that we have had 3 for some months now. He should also know we have 2 other WR offers out and one of them is an in-state, five-star guy with Texas at the top of his list. If guys like Reed and Cobb were really interested in us, they would be knocking down the door to get into town and check in out. Our coaches aren’t going to rescind the offers to Harris and Apo so Reed and Cobbs are not off the list since the staff must feel positive about our chances with White.

I’ll be the first to admit that I am not sold on Harris or Apo, but I am also not sold on Reed or Cobb as realistic options and I wouldn’t take either of them over Darius White. I imagine if White is on board the coaches will be pleased with the WR class and will be glad they were able to shift their attentions fully to Seastrunk, Jeffcoat, Nelson, Matthews and Hicks.

by Rickyspub on Apr 28, 2009 10:08 AM CDT up reply actions   0 recs

I think Reed’s comments suggest that he isn’t afraid of competition, just committing…

Sounds like my last five boyfriends.

Signed,

Random Sex in the City character

by burntorangehorn on Apr 28, 2009 12:21 PM CDT up reply actions   0 recs

For the record

I simply can’t fault any player for wanting to take their time and make the best decision in regards to where they go to college. I think it’s kind of silly when a kid who can obviously go anywhere he wants ignores offers from places he doesn’t know much about and commits a year early. Some of them have probably done some research, but some of them are just excited 17 year olds. If they’re just in it for the spotlight and want to wait until NSD and wear all fifteen hats on TV, then I understand being frustrated with them, but with the limited info we have (and most of it is just rumors anyway), I’m not going to say a kid is the next Ryan Perrilloux just because he says something weird in an interview. I think we’re going to miss out on a few good, smart players with this super early recruiting.

That said, it’s probably the best thing to do.

by Horn Brain on Apr 28, 2009 10:22 AM CDT reply actions   0 recs

it's either win-win or lose-lose... can't decide

The problem with such massive early recruiting is that, like Brain says, we’re going to miss out on a few good, smart players. Problem is – if we didn’t recruit early, the truth is that we’d probably still miss out on a few good, smart players. At the end of the day it becomes a numbers game. Unless we do like USC and reel in multiple 5-star players at the same exact position. And I’m not so sure that turns out to work great – USC is a highly talented team, to be sure, but are they as much “more-talented” than everyone else on the field as they are on National Signing Day?

The “problem” with us isn’t that we offer everyone so much more early than other programs – it’s that people accept the offers so much more early… not sure how you’d stop that, or if you’d even want to. Ultimately, the question becomes: is getting Harris and Apo more valuable than the chance of getting Reed and Cobb? And note – the alternative there is NOT “getting Reed and Cobb”, but “the chance of getting” them. It’s easy to say – well, Harris/Apo would still be there if you whiffed on Reed/Cobb, but frankly, none of us knows that to actually be true.

Oh well, the greedy part of me longs for the good old days of unlimited scholarships, where you’d see Alabama at home and the sideline shots would show the team stretched from the 20 yard lines…

by Pflash on Apr 28, 2009 3:10 PM CDT up reply actions   0 recs

Darius White

Ghost,
What happen with his commitment?? I thought he was going to commit at the spring game? Is he wavering?

by TexasStateHorn on Apr 28, 2009 12:31 PM CDT reply actions   0 recs

I don't think so,

He has been taking the opportunity to visit some schools with his teammates Rashad Favors and Dominique Sanders and is taking his time with the process to make sure that he makes the right decision. If he still hasn’t made a decision by June and starts talking about taking some official visits, than it might be time to worry, but until then, he still looks like a virtual lock to commit to the Longhorns.

by GhostofBigRoy on Apr 28, 2009 12:56 PM CDT up reply actions   0 recs

The biggest issue with losing Reed

Is that he is supposedly close with Seastrunk and of course their are rumors they want to play at the same place. Otherwise I don’t really see the loss of him or Cobbs as that big of a deal. I think we got a better player with similar talents to Reed in Jones, and Cobb looks like a virtual lock to USC now. A 4 WR class of Jones, Harris, Apo and hopefully White is pretty outstanding, plus they have a very diverse set of skills.

by Horncasting on Apr 28, 2009 2:22 PM CDT reply actions   0 recs

Early Recruiting---OOS commitments

I also understand the reluctance of an out of state recruit who has no strong ties to the program or the State to make a very early commitment, especially when he is being actively recruited by other nationally prominent schools. I believe there is a definite risk that someone who does commit under those circumstances will decommit. I can think of four cases where that has happened in the last 3-5 years.

I don’t know much about Tevon Reed, but to me he sounded disappointed more than afraid of competition. I am not going to second guess the early recruiting stategy with National 100 type out of state recruits, but I just do not think it is realistic to expect much success commiting them 9-11 months before NSD.

by Arroyo Grande on Apr 28, 2009 6:12 PM CDT reply actions   0 recs

Think you pretty well nailed what UT recruiting

is under MB . . . OOSers not likely to commit early, few scholarships left after the early run, and Mack believes winning the Texas recruiting wars is the way to go.

To all the complainers (including yours truly) — is going back to the ’80s and ’90s way of doing recruiting what we want?

by edsp on Apr 28, 2009 8:09 PM CDT reply actions   0 recs

Fully agree w/ first part

and think it’s the right way to go. Mack wanting kids who want Texas is great, and he has been well served by DKR’s advice to do it w/ Texas kids.

by hungry on Apr 29, 2009 2:29 AM CDT up reply actions   0 recs

the two biggest surprises of the draft for me

Darcel McBath going so early, and Cosby not being drafted at all.

Someone needs to explain to me why Chris Ogbonnaya has a better chance of mkaing a team and playing in the League than Quan Cosby.

by Beergut on Apr 30, 2009 7:07 PM CDT reply actions   0 recs

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